Over two weeks after a case of sexual assault and extortion came to light in Tamil Nadu’s Pollachi town, local Member of Legislative Assembly V Jayaraman has denied any family links to the case. The MLA’s remarks are in response to allegations in a section of Tamil media that his son was allegedly involved in a crime network that comprised politically-connected men who sexually assaulted and extorted money from college girls.

Speaking to media persons outside the Secretariat in Chennai on Monday, Pollachi Jayaraman alleged that the issue was a conspiracy by the DMK. He said, “The DMK wants to create a bad name through this in the Pollachi Lok Sabha constituency after the elections have been announced. The instigator behind all this is MK Stalin’s son-in-law Sabareesan. I am saying this on the basis because no news reports had published the information but my photo was published along with the line that a political party member and his two sons are involved. This is a big lie.” The MLA was referring to a picture that went viral on social media which faked a news channel’s template and claimed that the minister’s son was involved in the crime, making the police reluctant to act on the issue.